4.18.18 Your morning briefing

The information you need to start your day, from PaymentsSource and around the Web:

Interac exports debit tech to the Middle East
Interac, Canada’s national debit network, has been shopping its digital payments technology outside of Canada, and won a contract with Mint, a payments technology company in the United Arab Emirates.

Interac will license its software to UAE and serve as an interbank network, which will introduce a debit system to the country, along with digital payment technology.

The UAE government is supporting Mint’s financial inclusion effort, which is overseeing the debit network.

Bloomberg News

Spare crypto
Digital banking company Revolut is supporting cryptocurrencies as part of its new “roundup” tool.

Called Vaults, consumers can round up and save spare change from payments. What’s unusual about this app is it also permits bitcoin, litecoin and ether as options, among the other 25 traditional currencies that Revolut supports.

Vaults is the latest product rollout for Revolut, which is evolving from a niche payments startup to a more rounded financial services provider.

Call to action
A U.K. anti-fraud agency has become a victim of crooks who pose as staff to commit payment fraud.

ActionFraud says crooks are calling unassuming consumers asking if they have reported fraud recently. A prompt sends the victim to a fraudster instead of a ActionFraud representative.

ActionFraud does not proactively contact people by phone, the agency said.

Wechat and Alipay reach more travelers
Chinese payment companies such as WeChat and Alipay have found opportunities in other countries by partnering with merchants and acquirers to support payments for Chinese travelers.

The two companies have extended this strategy through an agreement with digital payments processor Shift4 Payments and cross-border payment company CITCON.

The collaboration will open WeChat Pay and Alipay to additional merchants in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean, with payments available in the traveler’s home currency.

From the Web

Facebook is set to introduce payments service feature in India
TechRadar | Tue April 17, 2018 – Facebook is reportedly testing a new payment service in India, and is currently hiring people to set up the service in the country. To recall, Facebook-owned WhatsApp messenger also introduced payment feature in its app recently.

Grubhub now lets you use Venmo to split food orders inside its app
The Verge | Tue April 17, 2018 – Grubhub has come out with a Venmo integration, which it officially announced today. Now, you can use Venmo as a payment option inside Grubhub. The new integration also lets you split the bill for group food orders with Venmo.

Data storage norm splits digital payments industry
The Economic Times | Wed Apr 18, 2018 – India’s nascent digital payment industry could be thrown into disarray due to the demand by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that all user data be stored within the country, fears an industry grouping, which has termed the decision as “heavy-handed”, even as others, including the country’s largest digital payment provider Paytm, have hailed the move.

More from PaymentsSource

Fintechs watch Wall Street to determine subscription billing’s future
Zuora’s stunning IPO was a victory for the entire subscription payments space, though new competitors and talk of a market bubble stalk the market.

Ripple’s better than bitcoin to convert crypto cynics
Ripple, which lining up partnerships with banks, is likely to help change the perception of crypto, expand its own value, and co-lead the ongoing shift in the way the world uses, manages, accesses, stores and exchanges money, writes Nigel Green founder and CEO of deVere Group.

With P2P stagnant, where is Zelle getting its growth?
The bank-led P2P service Zelle is on track to move more than $100 billion at its first anniversary in June — a milestone that is at odds with overall consumer awareness of digital P2P options.

Wirecard adds Fitbit Pay to boon app
Wirecard has expanded capabilities of its boon digital payment app by partnering with Fitbit so customers in Europe may make contactless payments with the Fitbit Ionic or Fitbit Versa smartwatch models.